Who tries how? Quit attempts among Swedish smokers Lars M. Ramström Institute for tobacco studies Stockholm, Sweden 6th Annual Conference of the SRNT Europe Tübingen, Germany, October 6 – 9, 2004

STUDY ON ATTEMPTS TO QUIT SMOKING Purpose: To investigate use of particular cessation aids rate of success in different groups of the population Material: A nationwide sample of the Swedish population (3,900 men and 4,500 women)

OVERVIEW OF CESSATION ACHIEVEMENTS Percentage of ever daily Men Women smokers who have … ● not made any attempt to quit 9% 8% ● made one or more quit attemps but do stlll smoke daily29%41% cut down to occasional smoking 7% 6% quit completely55%45%

At your latest attempt to quit smoking, did you use as an aid: (check all those which apply)  Nicotine gum  Nicotine patch  Zyban™ tablets  Snus  Other  No particular aid Question to all ever daily smokers who have made quit attempt(s):

PROPORTION HAVING USED PARTICULAR AID AT LATEST QUIT APPEMPT Age Men Women All ages %38% %26% %37% %40% %32%

PROPORTION HAVING USED PARTICULAR AID AT LATEST QUIT APPEMPT… …does not differ significantly between groups with different residence area level of education income type of occupation (blue or white collar)

PROPORTION HAVING USED PARTICULAR AID AT LATEST QUIT APPEMPT Nicotine dependence Men Women Low28%19% Medium43%43% High55%61%

OUTCOME OF LATEST QUIT ATTEMPT Smoking status now: Dependence level Low Medium High MEN Continue to smoke daily 24% 36% 51% Smoke just occasionally 10% 6% 5% Do not smoke at all 67% 56% 44% WOMEN Continue to smoke daily 26% 54% 64% Smoke just occasionally 10% 4% 2% Do not smoke at all 64% 42% 34%

CHOICE OF AID AT LATEST QUIT ATTEMPT Proportion of aid users Men Women having used: Combinations 12%11% 20% 18% Nicotine gum only15%20%31%36% Nicotine patch only9%15%17%24% Zyban only1%2%4%4% Snus* only59%44%17%7% Other single aid3%9%10%11% * Swedish oral snuff

CHOICE OF AID AT LATEST QUIT ATTEMPT… …does not differ significantly between groups with different residence area level of education income type of occupation (blue or white collar)

OUTCOME OF LATEST QUIT ATTEMPT Smoking status now Used as single aid Gum Patch Snus MEN Continue to smoke daily 57% 60% 16% Smoke just occasionally 5% 4% 12% Do not smoke at all 37% 36% 71% WOMEN Continue to smoke daily 57% 65% 33% Smoke just occasionally 6% 3% 13% Do not smoke at all 36% 32% 54%

Summary (1) In Sweden 9 of 10 ever-daily-smokers have made one or more attempts to quit. 4 of 10 triers have used some cessation aid. Most commonly used aids are: Among men, snus and nicotine gum. Among women, nicotine gum and patch.

Summary (2) Over-all success rates are higher in men than in women. Both in men and women sucess rates are highest among those using snus as cessation aid. A reason for the higher efficacy of snus as cessation aid may be that nicotine uptake from snus does better than gum/patch mimic nicotine uptake from cigarettes.